On Thursday, the Senate approved a draft amendment to the electoral law that extends the deadline for delivering abroad voting protocols during parliamentary, presidential, and European Parliament elections from 24 to 48 hours.
48 hours
Sixty senators voted to approve the bill with amendments, 40 opposed, with no abstentions. The Senate resolved to forward the draft to the Sejm. Senator Kazimierz Michał Ujazdowski will represent the Senate in further work on this initiative.
A coalition of senators has introduced a bill to amend the Electoral Act. The draft involves removing paragraph 2 from Article 230, thereby changing the time limit for counting votes cast at overseas polling stations.
During the proceedings, amendments were proposed. One suggested replacing the 24 hour limit in Article 230 with 72 hours. A second proposed changing it to 48 hours. In a vote, the first amendment was rejected and the second approved.
Under the current rules, votes cast in overseas wards are considered not to have taken place if the Electoral Commission of the relevant constituency does not obtain the results from abroad or from Polish ships within 24 hours after voting ends.
As announced in the CIS briefing, the amendment to the electoral law extends the time to deliver abroad voting protocols during parliamentary, presidential, and European Parliament elections from 24 to 48 hours.
Presently, according to § 2 of Article 230, if the Electoral Commission of the relevant constituency cannot obtain the results from overseas polling stations or Polish ships within 24 hours after voting ends, the overseas vote is deemed not to have occurred. The Senate proposes extending this deadline to 48 hours.
That is how it was written.
Senators argue that the change would reduce the risk that a valid vote by a Polish citizen abroad is not counted due to factors entirely outside the voter’s control and related only to the functioning of electoral administration. It would also bolster the constitutional guarantee of the right to vote.
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Electoral law
In early March, the Sejm did not support the Senate’s plan to reject the electoral law amendment. The proposed change, pushed by PiS deputies, aims to improve access to polling places for residents of small towns and to increase turnout.
At the end of April, a group of senators introduced a legislative initiative concerning the position of the human rights commissioner, arguing that the electoral law provisions restrict the constitutional rights of Poles living abroad.
The draft submitted by the senators seeks to repeal § 2 in Article 230, which obliges overseas electoral commissions to deliver the voting report within 24 hours. The proponents stated their aim is to prevent a situation in which a valid vote by a Polish citizen abroad is not counted due to reasons beyond that voter’s control and connected to the administration of elections.
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Source: wPolityce